


Power Play

by haruka



Category: Anita Blake - Fandom
Genre: Anita Blake - Freeform, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-08-05
Updated: 2005-08-05
Packaged: 2017-10-04 05:25:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haruka/pseuds/haruka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Can Nathaniel erase Damian's doubts about their triumvirate?</p><p>Contains spoilers for Incubus Dreams.</p><p>This was the result of a fifteen-minute word challenge that ended up going longer than that.  The challenge word is stated at the end of the ficlet.  Not necessarily canon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Power Play

Power Play (Anita Blake)

By Haruka (haruka@ymail.com)

\--

Damian sat in silence, thinking about the strange ways in which the world worked, especially as it pertained to vampires, and in particular, himself. A thousand years of life and he would never be a master. He accepted that. He also accepted becoming servant to a necromancer who would never love him as she did her various other men. Getting tied into a triumvirate of power with that same woman and a lesser wereleopard had been unexpected.

Well, 'lesser' so far as his position in the pard, but he didn't see Nathaniel as being less in any other way. In fact, he was the most beautiful shapeshifter he'd ever seen. He was also the nicest and most considerate.

"Damian?"

The vampire turned to see the object of his thoughts walking into the room, ankle-length braid swaying as he moved. The smooth gait of a lycanthrope that happened to be a stripper.

"Is something wrong? You've been sitting like this for a long time." He stopped beside him. "You look sad."

"I suppose I am, a little," Damian admitted, then looked at him. "Does it bother you that you'll never have her to yourself?"

"No," Nathaniel said. "Most of the people she's involved with are those I care about, too. Like you."

Green eyes widened. "Me?"

The wereleopard smiled. "We're part of the same triumvirate. It draws you together, or haven't you noticed?"

Damian sniffed. "It didn't do much for Jean-Claude and Richard."

"That's Richard's fault -- he fights it." Nathaniel shrugged. "I don't." He gave the former Viking a helpless smile. "I like not being alone."

The vampire studied him in a new light. Nathaniel was young, barely twenty, and yet he'd lived through more pain, both emotional and physical, than anyone should have to endure. Even as a child, surviving the abuse at home and the murder of his brother. Damian hadn't heard about it because Nathaniel never spoke of it. However, he had see it, when the triumvirate had been formed. The two of them and Anita had all shared each other's worst memories as if they were experiencing them first-hand.

They all knew how it felt to be alone and full of despair. Forming the triumvirate should have meant that none of them would feel that way again.

Nathaniel had moved close enough to put a hand on his arm. The touch was comforting, reassuring. Damian placed his hand over Nathaniel's, and it felt right. They had previously only been linked through Anita and the fact that they were both dependent on her. The triumvirate had changed that to some degree. Damian was still her vampire servant and Nathaniel her animal to call, but now there was a bond between the two men as well. Damian realized suddenly that he wanted to be as close to Nathaniel as they both were to Anita. However, he had one last hang-up of his own that might make him as difficult as Richard was in his triumvirate.

The wereleopard must have seen something in his expression because his lavender eyes became serious. "I would never be like those men who hurt you against your will," he said gently, and Damian flinched. Of course, Nathaniel had seen those centuries-past memories. "I'm not a dominant," the younger man reminded him. "You would be the one in control."

That was enough to seal his decision. Damian hadn't been in control of anything since his change a thousand years ago. He would not ever be a vampire master, but in this one act with Nathaniel, he could be a master of sorts and connect with his male triumvirate soulmate in a way that even Jean-Claude had not been able to accomplish with Richard.

Damian grasped Nathaniel's hand firmly in his own and smiled. "Let us go and forge a new bond as a pair that we might better serve both our third and ourselves."

"Yeah, let's get it on!" Nathaniel joked mischievously.

Damian laughed, and it felt good.

\--

(Word challenge - Linked)

(2005)

The Anita Blake characters belong to Laurell K. Hamilton.

This fic is not to be re-posted.


End file.
